As the Clock Ticks in Illinois

After a hard-fought battle, Illinois residents next month can begin applying for permits to carry concealed guns in public. But those who do could face another challenge: figuring out where it’s legal to carry a firearm and where having a gun could land them in jail. While the Illinois statute lays out nearly two dozen places where guns are prohibited – including schools, public parks, government offices and hospitals – it also includes caveats that might seem confusing, even contradictory, particularly to novice gun carriers. For example, the law prohibits guns at events where there is a large gathering of people, like neighborhood street festivals. But it allows people with guns to walk through a public gathering on the way home, to work or to their car. That means, according to some firearms instructors, that people could legally walk through the crowd at the South Side Irish Parade with a gun tucked in their belt but they couldn’t hang around and watch the performances… (Granted that there is no case law yet, wouldn’t it make more sense to consult attorneys than apparently lay firearms instructors? This article goes on at much greater length than this excerpt indicates.)